Crossing Canada

Saturday, June 23, 2018 – Leaving PEI was not easy, but that was the subject of my last blog. This blog is all about the mechanics of the trip! Saturday was a travel day. We had an Airbnb place reserved in Cacouna, Quebec, so we knew we would be driving at least 8 hours to get that far. We left our little cottage at about 8:30. We crossed the Confederation Bridge out of PEI with no problems. (Last time here, we had difficulty with our credit card.) The toll for the bridge is $47.00 (Canadian), but remember that you never pay to go to Prince Edward Island. Whether you take the ferry or the bridge, the only cost is when you leave the island. I love that. The roads were a bit bumpy as we started our way across New Brunswick, but they weren’t too bad by the time we had driven a few miles. The travel was mostly uneventful. We did travel into Quebec, as I said. This was our first time there. In the other Canadian provinces, of course all the signs are in English and French. In Quebec, most things are just in French. We found some of the signs humorous and some just plain mysterious. It was a fun experience. We arrived in Cacouna at around 4:15 local time, after traveling from the Atlantic to the Eastern Time Zone. That means we got to live an hour twice, which is always cool. You can correct mistakes or learn a new skill in that extra hour! I did not do that, I just sat in a car - but at least it was an option. We stayed at our little Airbnb apartment with no glitches. The view was outstanding, and the finishes were high end. There were a couple of funny little things that made it interesting to stay there. First, the beds were just mattresses on the floor. There’s nothing wrong with that, it was just unexpected. Second, only one of the beds actually had sheets on it. There were sheets on the dryer in the apartment, so I figured someone just got interrupted as they were getting the place ready for us. Still, we didn’t feel like making a bed, so we just went with the bed that had sheets. Later, the gal who rented us the place told me that her dad cleaned the place for her. That just made it all the more charming!  We slept well as we were very tired from a long day in the car.

One last view of PEI

The toll before Confederation Bridge

Confederation Bridge

And now we're in New Brunswick

Scenery in New Brunswick

And now Quebec

Funny sign along the way

Our Airbnb place in Cacouna, Quebec

Worn out us

Sunday, June 24, 2018 – We got on the road by 7:15, which I thought was pretty impressive. We wanted to do our best to get going early, because this was a destination day and not just a travel day. We were headed to Ottawa to stay with a friend who I first met on the mission trip I took to Cambodia back in 2011. Janet Hill was also at the Phnom Penh English Camp with her Ottawa church’s group. We stayed in touch on Facebook, and when I asked questions about the Ottawa area while planning our trip, she graciously invited us to stay with them. Travel went well. One moment of note was when I stopped at a city in Quebec to order my Subway sandwich. EVERYONE was speaking French, but I stepped up to the counter and started my order. The kind young man behind the counter got really big eyes and said, “Oh! In English?” to which I responded, “Yes, sorry.” We stumbled through, and I got my sandwich, with me saying “sorry” about every other word. It still tasted wonderful. We made it through Montreal, with a fair amount of traffic, and eventually entered Ontario. Ottawa is in eastern Ontario, so we were almost there! Once we arrived, we were greeted by Janet, her husband Mike, and their wonderful dog, Mozzie. We met the whole family as well as the family of another person from our 2011 Cambodia trip. What a great evening it was, with delicious food, wonderful conversation, and real life togetherness. These two families “do life” together, and it was a joy to be a part of that. We ended the day by seeing a couple of deer in the back yard and a full rainbow out the front door. Wow!

Along the way in Quebec

Another scenic view in Quebec

Now, on to Ontario!

Mozzie!

One of our small guests took a few pictures on my camera

He took a picture of his parents.

Neighborhood visitors

Rainbow, as taken by panorama view on my phone

Monday, June 25, 2018 – This was another travel day, but a bit of a shorter one. We had a five hour journey to Sudbury, ON, on the schedule. After Mike fixed us a great breakfast of scrambled eggs, bacon, and hash browns, the Hills (and a little buddy) sent us on our way. We (I) had to take a parting picture of all of us together. We didn’t get far down the road before Mike caught up with us, as I had forgotten my Shutterfly Cambodia book there. We had looked at that the night before and I didn’t get it packed up. The road from Ottawa to Sudbury was only flat in a few places. I have to say, I have really enjoyed the scenery this trip home. I think when we crossed back in the states, we had longer stretches with not much to see (once we got out of the Northeast).Even so, we are getting a bit “road weary” and we still have two more full days of driving before we settle in for three nights in Grand Marais. At this point, we have spent over 86 hours in the car during the past two and a half weeks, so that might explain our weariness! We found a Comfort Inn in Sudbury and spent a quiet evening there after a quick grocery run.

Us and the Hills

Another beautiful view on the road

Look at that!

Our motel room